Annette Cole (Law & Order: SVU)

Narcissistic sociopath Annette Cole

Annette Cole (Kate Burton) was the main villainess of "Bully", episode 12.18 of Law & Order: SVU (airdate February 23, 2011). She was the president and CEO of Luscious Grape Distributors, a prestigious wine distribution company where Corinne Stafford worked. Furthermore, she had created the business alongside her lifelong friend Ellen Sazelin, who acted as Luscious Grape's CFO. When Ellen was found murdered in her apartment, Annette acted heartbroken upon learning of her death along with the rest of her employees.

However, after Ellen's apartment was broken into and ransacked, Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler found a flash drive containing several webcam videos Ellen recorded at work. All of the videos displayed Annette's narcissism and sociopathy, which manifested through cruel and vicious bullying that involved her verbally abusing all of her employees and also angrily slapping Ellen—who was the main target of Annette's harassment—marking her villainous reveal.

When Annette was brought in and confronted with the video, she first claimed that she and Ellen were just having a disagreement and that the video was doctored before claiming Ellen was arrogant and was responsible for her rage towards her. The callous woman also denied killing Ellen and callously insulted her deceased friend before storming out of the interrogation room, telling the detectives to contact her lawyer if they wanted to talk to her again. Later on, the videos of Annette's abuse were played on the news and went viral online; Ellen had sent them out on the night of her death. As she was swarmed by reporters outside Luscious Grape, Annette accused Benson and Stabler of leaking the videos and declared that she planned to sue them for emotional distress before pushing her way through the crowd.

Later on, though, Annette arranged for a press conference to explain her behavior, requesting that Benson and Stabler attend said conference. The villainess began the conference with a seemingly apologetic demeanor, but soon began maliciously hurling insults at her business partners, her customers, the press, and also the NYPD; accusing her partners of abandoning her in her time of need and the NYPD of hounding her. Annette also informed the other employees of Luscious Grape that she had fired all of them, claiming that they had betrayed her and were just as useless as Ellen, who she accused of destroying her company. At the end of her villainous rant, Annette pulled out a gun and shot herself under the chin, stating that they all made her commit suicide prior to pulling the trigger. It was later revealed that she had also bequeathed her entire estate to her dog as a further twist of the knife to her employees.

Trivia

• Kate Burton later recurred as the villainous Sally Langston on Scandal.

Gallery

Annette after her true colors were exposed to the public